Cricket in Taiwan reaches an impressive landmark this weekend as the Taiwan Annual Cricket Tournament celebrates its 10th anniversary in Pingtung.
This weekend’s competition will see four of Taiwan’s top teams battle it out for the title in a tournament that is a far cry from how things were.
Englishman Andrew Carrick, tournament organizer and chairman of Taiwan Southerners Cricket Club (TSCC), remembers those days vividly.
PHOTO: RICHARD HAZELDINE, TAIPEI TIMES
“I joined a club in Kaohsiung around 17 or 18 years ago that played with coconut matting on grass fields,” Carrick said.
Everything was pretty disorganized at the time and a few years later his beloved sport was in serious danger of “fizzling out,” he said.
So, armed with stumps and matting brought in from England, Carrick managed to find the Sugar Factory Ground, while also getting in contact with a Sri Lankan team from Hsinchu and the Indians of the Taipei Cricket Association (TCA) to stage the first tournament in November 1999.
“The TCA had a bit of a shock when they stepped off the bus in their club blazers and came face to face with a bunch of English teachers,” Carrick said.
The shock didn’t put the TCA off their game, though, as they “absolutely hammered us” to take the inaugural event, he said.
“I think we lost around 10 to 15 balls,” he laughed.
Indian Dilip Amarnani of the TCA also remembers the inaugural tournament well.
“The Sri Lankans needed a six off the last ball to win, and when their batsman whacked the ball towards the boundary I thought we had blown it,” he said.
Luckily, they had a fielder well placed on the boundary and he plucked the ball out the air to hand the TCA victory.
“It was like a movie,” he said. “We were so happy that we were singing and drinking on the plane back to Taipei. The stewardess had to tell us to pipe down.”
Another veteran of Taiwan’s cricket scene, Formosa Cricket Club’s (FCC) Prem Purswaney, also has many fond memories, as defending champions FCC have a good record in Pingtung, having won the trophy three times.
He said he was looking forward to playing in “this wonderful tournament,” which in the face of the trend towards shorter forms of the game such as Super Sixes and Twenty 20 was still the best showcase for the 11-a-side game.
One thing the players won’t be looking forward to, however, is the dreaded “potty,” a plastic child’s toilet that the recipient of the award for the worst piece of fielding has to chug a beer from.
“It hasn’t been washed since the tournament began and I even put the fish in it when I change the water in their tank,” Carrick said.
This weekend’s cricketing extravaganza will see the TSCC go head to head with FCC, Pakistan Cricket Club Taiwan and the Pakistan Badshahs as they battle it out for the title.
This year will also feature a kids’ six-a-side game where some local children will display their cricketing talents, as well as an invitational match featuring a Pakistan XI versus a Rest of the World squad, showcasing “the best cricket Taiwan has to offer,” Carrick said.
Saturday’s action will take place at the Taisugar Baseball Ground on Taitang Road in Pingtung starting at 9:30am, while Sunday’s play will be at Pingtung’s main baseball ground on Fuxing S Road.
Anyone interested in finding out more information can call Andrew Carrick at 0919-557-896.
The next generation of running talent takes center stage at today’s Berlin Marathon, in the absence of stars including Kenyan Eliud Kipchoge and Ethiopian world record holder Tigist Assefa. With most of the major marathon stars skipping the event in the wake of the Paris Olympics just more than a month ago, the field is wide open in the men’s and women’s races. Since 2015, Kipchoge has won five times in Berlin, Kenenisa Bekele has won twice and Guye Adola once — with all three missing today. Kenyan Kibiwott Kandie and Ethiopian Tadese Takele are among the favourites for the men, while
Taiwan’s Tony Wu yesterday beat Mackenzie McDonald of the US to win the Nonthaburi Challenger IV in Thailand, his first challenger victory since 2022. The 26-year-old world No. 315, who won both his qualifiers to advance to the main draw, has been on a hot streak this month, winning his past nine matches, including two that ensured Taiwan’s victory in their Davis Cup World Group I tie. Wu took just more than two hours to top world No. 172 McDonald 6-3, 7-6 (7/4) to win his second challenger tournament since the Tallahassee Tennis Challenger in 2022. Wu’s Tallahassee win followed two years of
Zhang Shuai yesterday said that she nearly quit after losing 24 matches in a row — now the world No. 595 is into the quarter-finals of her home China Open. The 35-year-old is to face Spain’s Paula Badosa as the lowest-ranked player to reach this stage in the history of the tournament after Badosa reeled off 11 of the last 12 games in a 6-4, 6-0 victory over US Open finalist Jessica Pegula. Zhang went into Beijing on a barren run lasting more than 600 days and her string of singles defeats was the second-longest on the WTA Tour Open era, which
Nick Castellanos, Trea Turner and Kody Clemens homered on Wednesday as the Philadelphia Phillies beat the Chicago Cubs 9-6 and clinched a first-round bye in the playoffs. Castellanos had three hits and scored three times. Bryson Stott also had three hits and Brandon Marsh drove in three runs for the Phillies, who on Monday claimed their first National League East title in 13 years. Coupled with the Milwaukee Brewers’ 2-1 loss to the Pittsburgh Pirates, Philadelphia secured the bye and home-field advantage in the NL Division Series. The Phillies owned the tiebreaker with the Brewers after winning the season series against the